On hearing Joseph Anton Steffan’s (1726–1797) numerous songs or piano works, he can immediately be identified as an original precursor of Romanticism.

His harmonically refined “Capricci” – whose tempi and metre often change – are particularly attractive, although to date they have lain around in archives in manuscript form. We have dug up these treasures and are offering a first edition of the five Capricci with excellent Henle engraving and with a short introductory preface.